Hometown Park

[ttd rox]

I read somewhere about a kids section being in Hometown Square that was known as Hometown Park. I'm assuming it was in the center of the square. I was curious if anybody had any details or photos of what it was. Was it a full kids section or just like a couple rides. I'm positive I was there when I was little but I don't remember everything. Thanks!

[BP317]

I dont have any pictures of the rides but I do have a picture of the sign . There were a couple kiddie rides similar to the ones that were in Looney Tunes National Park and First Aid/lost parents. The rides were replaced with a flower bed and Turbo Bungy.

[ttd rox]

Thanks for sharing. Isn't that sign in front of orbit? I get where it's at now. I didn't realize that was where the rides were at.

[Ilovthevu']

There were 3 rides in that area. This is basically where all those stupid games are across from Orbit. Also, that game in the middle was a mini water fountain before (not for people to drink - it was a water thing). That game came from County Fair Games -in the middle. There was the Ladybug ride, there was a plane ride, and there was like I call a Hampton ride. It's basically you would ride in a circle, and you would be in a mini stage coach, and they had ponies in front of your stage coach.

I believe only the Ladybugs were saved, and went into the Looney Tunes National Park. However, now the Ladybugs are gone again.

This is at a carnival, but this is what those Ladybugs looked like:
http://www.greatamericanshows.org/ride_ ... _ride.html

This is not exactly what the pony ride was, but something like it:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3642/330 ... 746112.jpg

These are what the planes looked like. Not the same, but those are the same manufacturer, and design of them.
http://discoverpigeonforge.com/_tour/dwbarn1.jpg

At 2:49 in this youtube video, you can see the planes, and the mini fountain. The other 2 rides you can't see though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFudmpb59Jw

[RBullFan97]

Yeah, the sign doesn't say Hometown Park anymore, it says: Lost Parents-First Aid-Lost and Found. The only thing really that's the same about this part of the park from 1976 is the Schoolhouse.

[DeathbyDinn]

^^ Weird to see Fiddlers Fling with the lights in the middle in that video. Anyone know when/why it was removed?

[FParker185]

The lights on Fiddlers Fling were removed around the mid 2000's, I guess the whole thing was in pretty bad shape with corrosion, electrical issues and just plain being old, so they tore it out and put that fiberglass hubcap in the middle. I personally think they should have just made up a new light structure, wouldn't have been that hard or expensive.

[Stoogie]

So cool to see Sky Whirl in tht video too! Thanks for sharing!

[ttd rox]

Thanks indeed for sharing. It was very cool to see various changes to existing and recently removed rides. I also heard there were more kiddy rides in County Fair (not Kidzopolis) but I'm not sure where those were.

[Ilovthevu']

^I have no idea about that. All I know about the stuff that was in County Fair was the Big Top (which I said already), a circus at one time in the tent, of course the Sky Whirl,

the Hay Baler - Hay Baler was like this ride, http://www.coastergrotto.co.uk/pictures ... /16r33.jpg but it had a pile of Hay in the middle of it instead of that mountain thing, and the building for it plus the line was much bigger than this one at Cedar Point.

Z-Force I think was in County Fair before Iron Wolf?

and I think the Whirligig was over there at one point?

Plus, you know about Splash Water, Antique cars, Deja Vu, etc.

[ttd rox]

It's amazing how many things have left County Fair. I'm glad it's being "revived". If another coaster happens to replace IW, County Fair might be the go to part of the park once again.

Another reason I brought up this topic is because with Bugs Bunny gone leaving Kidzoplis and Camp Cartoon left, would we see a smaller kids section popping up again maybe towards the front of the park? Two is enough for me just asking if they will replace BB National Park.

[Johnny.Ink]

Z-Force I think was in County Fair before Iron Wolf?

Z Force was most definitively in the place that iron Wolf was in.

I was too scared to ride it as a kid, and lost the opportunity. I always wondered what it was like.

[Ilovthevu']

I forgot about the Merry-Go-Round. That was where Revolution is. I think there was a Baveryn Kurve right where that climbing course / before a wall is by Demon. Though,I think that ride moved to where Condor was because I somewhat remember that type of ride there. I have no recollection of it being by Demon because that was before my time, but people have discussed on here a ride right over in that area, and I think it might have been that ride. This is a Great Adventure, but it's that ride I'm talking about: http://greatadventurehistory.com/Swiss%20Bob.htm Magic Mountain just had one, and they just took it out maybe 5 years ago.

[FParker185]

County Fair has had a bunch of rides flow through it. I'll start on the South End

Where Iron Wolf for the most part is now, that was the location of the following rides...
The Train Station (they moved the whole building to the west to it's current location when they added Z-Force)
Whirligig
An Eli Bridge Ferris Wheel
Z-Force
and of course Iron Wolf which actually used the same station, queue and ramps as Z-force, the station was kinda high up due to Z-Force having a vertical transfer track in/under the station.

Delta Flyer one of the Von Roll SkyRides had a station inside what is currently the Funnel Cake Foundry (or whatever they call it these days). If you wander around the building, the original entrance, exit and parts of the queue are still intact.

Ameri-Go-Round was where Revolution is

In front of the burger joint which used to be called Burgers on The Run, roughly where the basketball game used to be that was moved over by Splashwater Falls Enterance there were 2 kids rides, both sharing the name Kiddie Kars.

Where the tent is for Kidzopolis housed a circus for a few years, then it became the queue for American Eagle, a small arcade and a sports themed eatery with TV's that always showed whatever games were on TV (useful on fright fest Sundays for Football Games)

Where the Skycoaster is now of course was Big Top that is now Ricochet.

Cant forget about Splashwater Falls and Barney Oldfield Speedway/Great America Raceway.

Where Buccaneer Battle is today, of course there was Deja Vu, before that there used to Be SkyWhirl and Haybaler which was a Jhle Brothers Matterhorn (same model as what's at Cedar Point near the North Skyride station).

Demon of course used to be Turn of the Century.

Not really worth mentioning but it was standing well into the 90's if not the early 00's, one of the towers from the Southern Cross Skyride was out in front of Demon being used as a light tower.

Where the Obstacle Course is now there was the Rock Wall, the Relocated Yukon Yahoo which I believe they called Industrial Revolution before moving it again to where Condor is today and before that there was a Himalaya type ride call Hilltopper.

So yeah, much like a County Fair, rides have been pretty consistently moved in and out of there.

[ttd rox]

While this doesn't have to do with Hometown Park, I was wondering where Viper's entrance was in Hometown Square the first year it opened. Does anybody have any pictures or maps from 1995?

[DejaVu2001]

^It was right where the entrance to Southwest Territory is. Viper was on the right, Rolling Thunder was on the left.

[ttd rox]

^Did it appear as more of a temporary entrance since they already knew about Southwest Territory by the time Viper opened?

[CoasterNick3157]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GoyteBJKmc

[ttd rox]

^Thanks for posting that! It very interesting seeing RT in the place of SWT.

[RagingBull144]

If you want more fottage go to this website http://www.greatamericaparks.com/

[Sporlo]

This is so fascinating! 1979 looks so clean and well-kept!
http://www.greatamericaparks.com/images ... play_media

[RagingBull144]

You can see Hometown Park in this video!!!